Building construction



Oct. 8, 1935. J s A R 2,016,874

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed May 25,. 1951 4 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTOZZ am5: m w

Oct. 8, 1935. J. s. RAYNOR 2,016,874

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed May 23, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZNZ/NTORdifin-S 51 I Oct. 8, 1935.

J. s. RAYNOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 23, 1951zzwfzmrrozz @n/ fi'j u/ywr J. S. RAYNOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION- Oct. 8,1935.

Filed May '25, 1931 4Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Oct. 8, 1935 UNITED STATESGFFIQE 6 Claims.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in buildingconstruction and more particularly the portion which relates to theerection and fastening of solid and hollow wall ele- 5 ments,partitions, ceilings and the like, especially the elements forming thebase for applied plastering.

The invention herein described utilizes, to some extent, the objectsfeatures and construc- 10 tions illustrated and described in my Patents#1,640,468 granted August 30, 1927, #1,641,903 granted September 6,1927, #1,'764,74=8 granted- June 17, 1930 and #l,796,959 granted March1'7, 1931 as well as the co-pending applications Serial 15 #195,946,filed June 2, 1927 and Serial #399,358,

filed October 12, 1929.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide improvedmethods for erecting and fastening sheets of stiff material such asplaster 20 boards or blocks at random relative to studd'ing,

furring bars and joists or other supports regardless of theirarrangement or positions and which when properly erected will be rigidand the applied plastering will firmly adhere tothe base 25 elements.

Another object of my invention is to provide means and arrange the partswhereby the completed structure may be fashioned along straight orcurved lines either concaved or coved, or con- 3 vex or bowed. This ispossible since small sized stock can be used and the spacing of thestudding, furring bars or supports does not have toequal the lengths ofthe stock.

A further object of the invention is to provide 35 a relatively cheapbut strong or durable construction which may be easily and quicklyerected and which when completed will be rigid and safe particularlysince the elements entering into the construction can not becomedislodged due to deterioration or other causes and will remain intactuntil such time as the superstructure gives way or is razed.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a buildingconstruction which while 45 rigid as a whole has a certain inherentresiliency to stand certain stresses thereon without breaking and whichwould also be capable of standing the shock of minor explosions withoutthe likelihood of dislodgment of the parts so that 50 the constructionactually acts as a fire preventive or as a means to confine a fire andprevent its spread to other parts of a building.

With these and many other objects which will become apparent from thefollowing description, 55 this invention comprises certain details ofconstruction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth andspecifically designated by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which the invention appertainsmay understand how to 5 make and use the same, I will describe itsconstruction in detail; referring by numerals to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this application 'in which:-- 7

Fig. 1 is a perspective view looking at the sali- 10 ent corner formedby the meeting of two walls under construction and illustrating some ofthe details and elements embodied in the building construction inaccordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the base member of the fish plateshowing the manner in which it is applied to the sheet material, thelatter being shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to- Fig. 2, showing the capping member of thefish plate in place relative to the base member and the material sheetswhich are shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line l2l2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an isometric view of a wall section with a portion broken outto show different fastening means for the sheets of material andillustrating how the coils of a spider may be drawn toward each other inorder to provide an extra secure fastening whereby it will functionsimilar to one of the fish plates.

Fig. '7 is a similar View of a modified form of clip.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a substitute clip I or clip leg for use inconnection with a clip head.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of an independent or substitute clip head.40

Fig. 10 is another form of independent or substitute clip head.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a modified form thereof. I Fig. 12, isa perspective view looking into a room, hallway or other compartment toillustrate an installation or erection of walls, or partitions and aceiling in accordance with my invention and showing how the ceilingsheets may be rigidly and securely fastened to the rafters or beams.

In carrying out my invention as herein embodied 59 represents supportssuch as studs, furring bars, joists or beams, and these may bepositioned any suitable distance apart so long as they will support theapplied load.

Across the supports 50 are disposed at random sheets of stiff material5! in the form of plaster board or blocks of desirable thickness, lengthand width. Since the sheets of material can be disposed at random andsince the supports 50 may be spaced at random, a person erecting a wall,partition, ceiling or the like does not have to make accuratemeasurements except for the outside boundaries or to line up a wall tosee that the same is perpendicular, horizontal or whatever angle mightbe desired.

Where a wall or partition is started from a floor which is already laid,I prefer to first install a boundary rail 52, that may be used as a baserail, or inverted and used as a top or finishing rail.

With a section of the boundary rail installed as a base rail the sheetsof material 5| are set in the channel thereof and a clip 58, Fig. 1, hasits'head 59 engaged around a support 50 and then moved into engagementwith the upper edge of the sheet of material 5| and. the leg 60 attachedin any convenient manner to the boundary rail.

As the lower end of the leg 60 of a clip is attached to the boundaryrail the head of the clip will be drawn firmly against the upper edge ofthe material sheet 5| and where the latter is of fragile material theclip head will be embedded into the edge of the material sheet.

After the first row of material sheets has been erected, a second courseis placed in position withthe lower edges abutting the upper edges ofthe preceding course and the clips then placed in position so that theheads engage the supports with the legs projecting over faces of thesheets opposite the supports and with the ends of the clip legsprojected through the eyes of the clips holding the first course ofmaterial sheets and then bent up, and the bending of the end of the clipleg will bind the material sheet in place, the same as before described.

The above operations continue until a wall or partition is completed, orpractically so, and on the last course of erected material sheets aboundary rail may be installed in an inverted position relative to thefirst mentioned boundary rail for use as a top rail and this may befastened to a support 58 by suitable fastening means, and the lastassembled clips are attached to said top rail and the leg of each ofsaid last assembled clips passed through the eye of a preceding clip andthe end bent over. When this isdone all of the courses will be securelybound together and to their supports.

In order to hold the meeting ends of the material sheets together atcorners whether or not a support 50 is located at such corner smallsections of the boundary rail 52 may be utilized as shown in Fig. 1, inwhich case the longer leg of the boundary rail overlies what may betermed the outer face of the sheet while the shorter leg lies betweenthe opposite face and the contiguous edge of the abutting sheet and thenby driving a nail or equivalent fastening means through openings in thelong and short legs across the heel of the boundary rail the nail willthen be disposed over the outer face of said abutting sheet and willassist in holding the latter in place.

The several sheets may be fastened along their joints at any desirablenumber of locations and particularly at joints formed by meeting ends oredges of edgewise abutting sheets by means of clamps l0 herein called afish plate and illustrated in detail in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. Eachfish plate includes a base member H having a number of sectionspartially cut therefrom and bent or fashioned to provide oppositelyprojecting hooks l2 and 13 the shanks of which are all on the same line,said shanks being indicated by the numeral 74.

In a screw threaded hole 15 in the base H, which hole is in the sameline as the shanks of the hooks, is mounted a screw 16 over which may bepassed the clamping plate ll having a key hole 78 therein so that thelarger part will register with the screw head and then the wholeclamping member moved sidewise for positioning the same and then thescrew 16 screwed into its hole 75 until the clamping member 77 is drawntightly against the'sheets between the two members of the fish plate.The clamping member H is provided with openings 19 to register withcertain of the hooks, as l3, and also has fangs 80 along the edges ofits body and along the edges of the opening 19 therein and said fangsmay be co-extensive with the edges from which they are formed or theymay be serrations.

In both the base if and the clamping member 11 are formed other screwthreaded holes 8| to either temporarily or permanently receive screws 82of various lengths. These last named screws are of various lengthsbecause they are designed to indicate the thickness of the appliedplastering. These screws guide the plasterer in applying the rough coat,in particular, and give the proper line for the finish, of at least saidrough coat and are therefore known as screed setting screws. After theplaster has been applied and set the screed screws may be removed orscrewed in a sufficient distance to carry their heads below the plastersurface and the recesses formed may then be filled up.

The fish plates are used especially for strengthening the meeting edgesof the material sheets and prevent the latter from warping out of lineor being forced out of their proper positions during the application ofthe plaster. They may also be utilized for strengthening or mendingbroken or otherwise damaged material sheets and likewise may be used inconnection with the erection of short pieces of sheets known as fillers,or pieces which it has been necessary to cut out and then replace, orthe filling in of a space purposely left vacant, such filling piecegenerally being known as a dutchman.

In lieu of the fish plate other fastening devices may be used which willherein be referred to as spiders one of which is shown in Figs. 1 and 5,and numbered 83. The spider 83 is fashioned from a piece of wire ofsuitable strength and stiffness to provide an axle 85 from each end ofwhich projects a spoke 86, preferably parallel, and with each spoke isformed one of the rings 87 and 88 which are bent or turned in oppositedirections relative to each other so that the end of one ring terminateson the side of its spoke opposite to the termination of the other ringrelative to its spoke.

A spider may be used between the joints of two material sheets orbetween the joints of three of such sheets and where it is desirablethat the ring portions of said spiders be braced or strengthened toprevent any possibility of the rings separating or moving apart the ringportions may be tied together by wires 92 which pass through the spacesof adjoining material sheets as shown in Fig. 5.

Often while a building is under construction, the plumber, electrician,steam fitter or other mechanic may require that a space be left open oran :opening provided temporarily so that wires, pipes and the like maybe installed at a later time. This opening will be subsequently closedor partially closed by a piece of sheet material generally known as adutchman. In building up the base or core of the wall or partition orceiling the sheets of material 5| are placed against the supports 50 andfastened thereto by clips. When the location for the desired opening isreached the stock or material sheets are merely arranged so that theopening is formed and a U-shaped clip head 95, Fig. 10, having an eye 96at each end isplaced around each support 59 within the confines of theopening beneath the lower edge or edges of the stock or material sheetsin the course above the opening and the legs of the clips fastening thecourse of stockabove the opening, in the region thereof, areprojectedthrough one of the eyes of each U-shaped head so that saidupper course is properly secured in place.

When the time arrives to fill in or partially close the opening adutchman or filler of proper shape and size is fitted into the openingand independent clip legs 91 are projected through the remaining eyes ofthe U-shape clip heads 95 and the eyes of the heads of the clips whichare holding the lower course of the stock in place in the region of theopening. The independent clip leg 91 is produced from a section of wirehaving a stop eye or loop 99 formed at or near one end whereby saidindependent clip legwill be properly positioned relative to one of itscooperating elements while the end of said independent leg opposite thestop loop can be bent over the other co-acting element after beingproperly inserted in the eye thereof. Where the independent leg 9'! isused in vertical work it will be obvious the same may be threadedupwardly or downwardly through the co-acting elements.

The independent clip leg may be merely a section of wire having bothends bent after it has been threaded'through the elements or one end maybe bent over prior to the leg being threaded through the co-actingelements.

In Fig. 9, I have illustrated a modified form of independent orsubstitute clip head I00 which is fashioned U-shaped with two eyes IDIand a pigtail I02 projecting from each eye both of said pigtailsprojecting in the same direction whereas in Fig. 11, I have shown afurther modification of independent or substitute clip head I03 whichlike the others is fashioned U-shaped and provided with two eyes I04 butthe pigtails I05 project in opposite directions from the eyes I 04.These pigtails engage the stock or material sheets forming the base orcore of the wall or ceiling and prevent the independent or substituteclip heads from moving lengthwise and becoming accidentally displacedfrom the supports during assembly or erection.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have illustrated a slightly different form of clipI06 which like the other clips is produced from a section of suitablewire fashioned to provide a leg It! and a head IE8, the latter includinga section I09 at right angles to the leg IU'I, a connecting piece I II]at right angles to the section IE9, another section III at right anglesto the connecting piece III) and also at right angles to the leg I97 andparallel to the section I I39 and the end of the section I I I is coiledto provide an eye II 2 from which projects a pigtail II3 parallel withthe leg I01.

The clip illustrated in Fig. 7, is identical in every detail in thatshown in Fig. 6, with the exception that the section carrying the eyeand pigtail is on the opposite side of the leg and therefore the samereference numerals have been used. It might be said that the clip inFig. 6, is a right handed one while the clip in Fig. 7, is a left handedone as this would be the most simple explanation of the differencesbetween the two.

When the core or base of a. ceiling is erected in accordance with thisinvention such ceiling will have considerable strength and can properlywithstand any ordinary load of applied plaster and since all holdingmeans including the clips, are embedded in the plastic material theywill remain intact for the full life of the build- It is to beparticularly noted that in the structure herein set forth that theclips, and sometimes the fish plates and other holding appliances act asguides for the application of the first coat of plaster thereby gagingthe thickness of said plaster making it possible to apply an even firstcoat of plaster of uniform thickness which will set at an equal speedthroughout. The advan-1 tage of this condition is that the entire areawill become hard at the same time and be ready for the next coat ofplaster.

Where the fis'h plates are used either by themselves or in conjunctionwith the spiders or other means of fastening the edges of the sheetstogether, the screed screws 82 may be used as gages for subsequent coatsof plaster eliminating the necessity of driving nails or otherequivalent means into the core of base or forming screed settings in theform of small mounds of plaster.

While I have used the word block in some places throughout the abovedescription, it is to be understood that the use of the word sheet orits derivatives or equivalents is to include blocks of material,especially such blocks as are used in present day construction. In otherwords, there are pieces of material used in present day buildingconstruction which are considerably thicker than the usual buildingsheets of gypsum and equivalent materials which are known as blocks.

I desire to call attention to the arrangement of the joints between thesheets or blocks and especially those joints which are parallel with thefurring bars or supports wherein all of such joints are a considerabledistance from the supports and at no time is there a joint runningparallel or in alignment with said supports. This makes it possible thatthe supports and the sheets or blocks may be erected at random and thesupports will not be exposed from the face or working side of theconstruction with the possible exception that where a number of thesheets or blocks cross a support, if said blocks or sheets are notforced into absolute contact throughoutthe joint, there may be a notingthat there is something behind the blocks or sheets.

Of course, I do not wish to be limited to the exact details ofconstruction as herein shown, as these may be varied within the appendedclaims without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and usefulis:-

1. In a device of the character described, a wall core consisting ofsupporting means, material sheets disposed at random across saidsupporting means, attaching means disposed across the material sheetsand having portions engaging the supporting means and other portionsengaging coacting contiguous attaching means and fastening meansengaging the edges of contiguous material sheets whereby they will beheld in alignment during plastering operations, and said attaching andfastening means functioning as gages for workingmen during theplastering operations.

2. In a building construction, the combination of supporting means,material sheets disposed at random across said supporting means,attaching means disposed across the material sheets and having portionsengaging the supporting means, and means positively engaging adjacentmaterial sheets near the contiguous edges for securing said adjacentmaterial sheets to each other.

3. In a device of the character described, a wall core consisting ofsupporting means, material sheets disposed at random across saidsupporting means, clips disposed across the material sheets and havingportions engaging the supporting means and other portions engagingcoacting contiguous clips, and means engaging adjacent material sheetsalong contiguous edges to hold said sheets together in edgewisealignment.

4. In combination, spaced supports, a channeled rail for securernent tosaid supports, material sheets disposed at random across said supportswith the edges of those sheets adjacent the rail in contact therewith,clips disposed across the material sheets and having portions engagingthe supports and other portions engaging contiguous clips for fasteningthe material sheets to the supports and holding some of them inengagement with the rail, and means to fasten adj acent material sheetstogether whereby all of the sheets become a unitary structure.

5. In a building construction, the method of forming a Wall core,consisting in erecting supports in spaced relation, then disposingsections of material at random across saidsupports whereby the jointsbetween the sections of one run of sections are in staggered relationrelative to similar joints of adjacent runs of sections and so that allof said joints will fall between the supports, then fastening thesections of material together along abutting edges, and then fasteningthe sections to the supports.

6. In a building construction, spaced supports, rectangular materialsheets disposed across said supports in random fashion so that thejoints between said sheets are not regularly spaced relative to thesupports, means to attach said sheets to the supports, and meansengaging directly opposite surfaces of the sheets in the region of thejoints for rigidly attaching adjacent edges of said sheets together.

JOHN S. RAYNOR.

